The color of a beam of light may be controlled by placing a color filter so that all or part of the beam of light passes through the color filter. Where the color filter is made of a flexible material, color filters of differing colors may be attached to each other side-by-side to create a string of filters. Such a string may be mounted on a motorized scrolling mechanism (a “color filter scroller”) that is controlled remotely to position a selected portion of the string in a beam of light.
Where a color filter scroller is used to control the color of a beam of light produced by a lighting fixture, the size of the individual color filters in the string is typically chosen to be slightly larger than the diameter of the light beam. Prior to use of a light fixture, a user may select one or more color filters of desired colors for inclusion in a filter string. Then, the user may operate the color filter scroller during use of the light fixture to position a desired color filter to completely cover the beam of light, causing the light fixture to produce a light beam of the desired color.
In a filter string, a color filter may be placed beside a clear panel of flexible material. Such a filter string may be positioned so that part of the light beam passes through the color filter and the remainder of the light beam passes through the clear panel. The resulting light beam will be a combination of colored and white light. The light beam will be the color of the color filter, but paler, or less saturated, due to the addition of the white light. In this way, the color of the light beam may be controlled prior to use of a light fixture by placing in the color string a color filter of a desired color, and the saturation of the light beam may be controlled during use of the light fixture by the ratio of colored and white light in the beam.
A color filter in a filter string may be placed next to another color filter of a different color. Such a filter string may be positioned so that part of the light beam passes through one color filter and the remainder of the light beam passes through the adjacent color filter. The color of the resulting light beam will be a combination of the two colors. In this way, the color of the light beam may be controlled during use of a light fixture by the ratio of the two colors of light in the beam, and the saturation of the light beam may be controlled prior to use of the light fixture by placing color filters of a desired saturation in the color string.
Accordingly, there is a need for an apparatus, system and method to control both the color and saturation of a light beam during use of a light fixture. Further, there is a need for an apparatus, system and method using flexible color filters to control both the color and saturation of a light beam during use of a light fixture.